


Ginny Weasley and the Amazing Neverland Quest

by savvyliterate



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-02
Updated: 2007-08-31
Packaged: 2018-01-25 09:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1643504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/pseuds/savvyliterate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny's suppose to be studying two things: Review material for her OWLs and her amazing boyfriend, Harry Potter. But Ginny's overtired mind sends the fifth-year into a strange dream where her housemates have suddenly turned into little boys, her best friend is a fairy and her boyfriend is being tortured by the merciless Captain Snape Hook and his lord, Voldemort. Ginny's mission is clear - she will be the one to save Harry Potter this time, and Merlin have mercy on anyone who stands in her way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. To Sleep, Perchance to...

"Ginny?"

She barely heard the voice addressing her as she went over various combinations for Ancient Runes translations in her brain. She wasn't sure where she was, or quite sure how she got there. The only thing that she knew for sure what that she had been in the library at some point. Now she was... Wait, where was she again? She cracked open her eyes to find that she was leaning forehead first against a cold stone wall.

"Come on, Ginny." A larger hand engulfed her own and Ginny fought back a yawn as she looked up to see her boyfriend giving her a quirky, knowing smile. She managed one back. The past two weeks with Harry as her boyfriend had been simply amazing and she never regretted one ounce of time she spent with him. She did want to club him senseless over not making his move much, much earlier - like two seconds after she broke up with Dean or the previous summer before she and Dean started really exploring a relationship. Now she had to place Harry somewhat on the back burner in the race to cram for her OWLs and ignore Hermione's tutting in the process.

"You can fight a Boggart by casting the spell...," Ginny started to respond, then clasped a hand over her mouth. Harry smirked and pulled her into the room they'd been standing before.

Ginny dearly hoped it was a broom closet. A good hour of snogging, no make that three hours, would hopefully restore her normal speech. Ah, forget OWLs. Hours of snogging Harry were much more productive and conductive to her future , not to mention her sanity, than remembering the events of 1409 for her History of Magic exam. Too bad Mum wouldn't buy that excuse. Then again, it was Harry. Her mum would be so thrilled to find out they were dating, she'd probably forgive Ginny if she made all Trolls on her OWLs.

Unfortunately, Hermione wouldn't. The wrath of Hermione Granger when it came to academics was much, much worse than one of Mum's tirades any day of the week.

"Please come here and sit down, Gin," Harry urged and Ginny broke out of her half-sleep daze to realize that they were in the Room of Requirement. There wasn't much in the room except for a single, extremely squashy chair overflowing with pluffy cushions. It reclined back far enough to make it almost seem like a bed, but not quite. Next to the chair was a platter with a pitcher of milk, an empty glass and Ginny's favorite kind of biscuits - double chocolate with chocolate chips. She made a low sound of pleasure as she sank into the chair and snatched a biscuit. She kicked off her shoes, leaned back and took a bite. The sound of pleasure turned into a moan as the taste of chocolate burst over her tongue and her toes curled in delight. She planned on savouring every bite.

It took her a few minutes to realize that Harry was watching her indulge in her vice. His eyes had gone large and dark and he was breathing heavily. She blinked, confused, then her lips curved in feminine delight. "Want some?" she offered and held out the second half of her biscuit.

He looked torn, and she knew he was trying to decide if she meant herself or the biscuit. "No," he finally said in a somewhat strangled voice and snatched up a blanket, doing his best to shield part of his body from her. Ginny fought the urge to laugh, knowing what direction her boyfriend's mind had gone. "I... um... You see..."

"Your ability to vocalize your thoughts has always impressed me, Potter."

Now he smirked and his colour returned to normal. "Very funny, Weasley. Anyhow, you looked like you needed a break from your studies. Do you realize that you detailed the ingredients to the Draught of Peace to Colin when he asked you a question during dinner?"

"I did?" Ginny hadn't remembered that. Then again, most of her memories of the past week or so were of OWLs and stolen moments with Harry.

"Considering the question was about your summer holidays, it was impressive. Plan to brew potions at the Burrow?"

She made a face. "Ew, no! Don't even suggest such a thing! The only thing I plan to do this summer is sleep, read those trashy romance novels Mum keeps trying to hide but I always find them, play Quidditch in the garden, toss garden gnomes and snog my boyfriend senseless when he gets released from that hellhole he's sent to every summer."

Harry looked delighted. "I like those plans!"

Now Ginny smirked. "You would, wouldn't you?"

"Well, to ensure the fact that you'll be sane enough to carry out your summer activities, I figured you needed some sleep." Harry leaned forward and started tucking the blanket around Ginny in such a caring way that she felt her heart constrict, then beat a little faster. "You won't get any rest in the common room thanks to Hermione. Oh, and the fact that Colin Creevey has finally lost it and is singing the entire Pirates of Penzance musical from the top of his lungs."

Ginny knew of Gilbert and Sullivan thanks to her father and the fact that the duo had actually been wizards who enjoyed writing musicals for Muggles. "So you brought me here?"

"Yeah." Harry pulled back and gave her a fond smile. Ginny's heart gave another lurch. "So I thought you could kip here a few hours."

"It's incredibly sweet. Thank you." She took his hand. It closed over hers tightly. "Will you stay with me?"

She swore she heard the words, _"I wish"_ under his breath. "No, I have to go back to the common room and swear to Hermione that I haven't dragged you out to the lake to have a snog. It's the only way she won't try to find you. She unearthed her Arithmancy notes from fourth year and is bound and determined to get them to you and to drill you on third-year material. I plan to tell her that you're so absorbed in Ancient Runes that you threw a book at my head."

"You're too good to me, Harry." Ginny grinned at the thought of a maniacal version of herself tossing books at her boyfriend. Her smile softened. "Stay with me until I fall asleep then?"

She could see the change in his stance as he gave into the desire to stay with her. "Of course. Budge over."

She scooted and the chair automatically expanded to accommodate him. He kicked off his shoes and slipped in next to her. His arms went around her and her head found its normal place on his chest with the ease of couples that had been together for years, not weeks. His hand moved through her hair, lightly massaging her scalp in a way that made her feel incredibly drowsy. She lightly traced her fingers in a circle over his shirt, enjoying how his chest muscles quivered in response.

She barely felt the kiss to the top of her head and his gentle voice saying, "Sleep well, Ginny."

Then she was floating in a sea of wonderful nothingness.

––-

“Excuse me? Excuse me?”

Ginny blinked her eyes open sleepily and found herself looking into a younger and chubbier version of Colin Creevey. “Colin?” she murmured. “What time is it? And did you eat one of Fred and George’s candies again?”

“She knows my name!” The chubby Colin started bouncing around in glee. “She knows my name, she knows my name! She must be Wendy! Hermione said Wendy would know my name!”

“Oh, please!” Ginny looked to Colin’s left to see who she thought was Seamus Finnigan, but wasn’t quite sure. This boy was also short and chubby whereas the sixth-year Gryffindor she knew was taller and stocky. “She said her name was _Ginny_ , not _Wendy_!”

“Oh.” Colin tilted his head to one side and chewed on his lip. “Well,” he asked Ginny, “are you a Ginny or a Wendy?”

Ginny stared at him, more than a bit perplexed. “I’m quite sure I’m a Ginny.”

Colin looked a bit crestfallen. “So you’re not a Wendy.”

“I’m a Ginny, not a Wendy.”

“But not a Ginny Wendy?”

“No… Just a Ginny Ginny.”

Colin brightened. “I like that! She’s our Ginny Ginny!”

Ginny laughed and held up her hands in a calming gesture. “Just one Ginny is fine, Colin.”

“Anyhow, you’ve got to come!” Seamus grabbed Ginny’s hand and started tugging at it. “Hermione says you’ve got to come right away! You’ve got to save us!”

“From what?” Ginny slowly got to her feet and took a good look at her surroundings. She nearly dropped back down to her knees. She was quite sure she was no longer in the Room of Requirement, or even Hogwarts at that. She, Seamus and Colin stood on a beach of white, sparkling sand, the type she’d only seen in picture books. Crystal blue water lapped at their feet. In front of them stood a rambling forest of tall palm trees that stretched toward a snow-capped mountain range. It was all very beautiful.

“Ginny, I don’t believe you’re in Hogwarts anymore,” Ginny muttered to herself. “Where am I?”

“This is Neverland,” Colin answered. “This is the place where all your dreams can come true and you can be a boy forever and ever!”

“I take it you can be a girl too?” Ginny asked.

Colin’s brow wrinkled. “Dunno. There’s no girls here other than Hermione. But since you’re here and you’re a girl, I reckon so.”

Hermione was there. Thank goodness. Ginny sighed in relief. She would endure her best friend’s harping on her OWLs for the next three days if it meant she would find out what was going on. “Why do I need to save you? And where’s Hermione?”

“Hermione’s with Dean. We’re the only one still left,” Seamus said, tears coming to his eyes. They spilled over and he began to sob. “We were playing in the forest and came back to see… see… Snape! Captain Snape Hook, the right-hand man of the malicious Lord Voldemort! They captured the other Lost Boys and Harry Potter! You’ve got to save Harry Potter!”

Ginny’s blood froze. “Sn…Snape? Snape kidnapped Harry?”

Colin was now in tears as well. “They did something horrible to him, to his forehead. He started screaming and grabbed his scar and fell down. Then Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle all tied him in ropes and Harry began screaming in terror. Then he started yelling for a Ginny. You must be his Ginny.”

Ginny’s brain promptly went into overload. _Processing… Processing… My name is Ginny Weasley. I’m a fifth-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry studying for my OWLs. I’m the girlfriend of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived and happens to be the best snogger on the planet. I am now in some strange land where my housemates have turned into little boys and Snape has kidnapped Harry. Snape took Harry. MY HARRY._

Ginny snarled so viciously that both Colin and Seamus stumbled over each other in their efforts to get away from her. She snatched her wand from the back pocket of her jeans. “We’re going to save Harry,” she said as she marched toward the forest. She had no idea where she was going, but she was going to tear this place limb from limb until Harry was by her side once again.


	2. It's Your Dream, Ginny Weasley!

The boys led Ginny deep into the forest. They followed a series of twisting paths that seemed to act like the stairs at Hogwarts. They would go down one path a little ways, discover that the path had changed and would have to retrace their steps.

"Should had brought broomsticks," Colin commented after they got lost the fifth time.

Seamus nodded. "Definitely need broomsticks."

Ginny nearly slapped her hand against her forehead. _Boys._

"Ah, here we go!" Colin dashed down the path eagerly into a clearing. Seamus let out a whoop and followed. Ginny emerged and her jaw fell.

The clearing was a little boy's paradise. Huge treehouses were secured magically in the air with swing ladders and rope bridges connecting them. Broomsticks were scattered among the ground, most of them generic Cleansweeps. A few battered Bludgers lay among the brooms and Ginny could just make out Quidditch hoops suspended among the trees. Large picnic tables filled with food were under the most leafy trees, wooden swords leaned against the seats.

Everything was a blazing Chudley Cannon-orange.

"It was Ron's turn to decorate this month," Colin supplied at Ginny's shocked look. "Isn't it cool?"

"It's umm... definitely orange." Ginny made plans to ransack Ron's room during the summer and turn everything into the green and gold of the Holyhead Harpies. "Ron's here too?"

"Of course Ron's here! Or he was. He's with Harry now. _Hermione!_ " Seamus yelled.

"Honestly, I could hear you lot coming into the common clearing. Do lower your voice, Seamus, you don't want Snape to realize that he missed you two. Ah, you must be Ginny!"

Ginny scanned the area looking for the bushy-haired witch. She saw no one in the treehouses, no one by the picnic table. There was no one emerging from the forest and no one riding a broomstick in the sky. She could hear Hermione, but where was she?

"Try looking in front of your nose."

 _My nose?_ Ginny stared straight ahead and spotted a very small, very bushy-haired fairy. The hair had been someone tamed into a ponytail, but there was still enough of the hair to nearly obscure the wings that protruded from the fairy's back. She was dressed in a miniscule, yet very neat set of periwinkle robes that reminded Ginny of the robes that Hermione wore to the Yule Ball during Ginny's third year.

"Hermione the Fairy, at your service," Hermione said in a business-like voice. Ginny squinted and saw that the fairy clutched a sheaf of parchment. "I was told at first that I was to be called Tinkerbell, but it made me sound absolutely horrid - like a meddling little pixie such as that dreadful Lavender Brown." Ginny swore she heard Hermione gnash her teeth. "So I said that I would vastly prefer my original name, which came from Shakespeare. It's the name of the queen in _"A Winter's Tale."_ Have you read it?"

"Right...," Ginny said, not quite sure who this Shakespeare guy was. "Who is they?"

"They? The Beaubaxtons School of Flittering Fancies, Fantasy Fairies and Peculiar Pixies. I happened to take the fairy track of learning and I'm oh-so-glad that I did." Hermione's forehead wrinkled. "I wouldn't want to know what would become of me if I had become a Pixie. Or a Fancy like Fleur Delacour. Seamus! Colin! What on earth are you two doing?"

Ginny spotted Colin and Seamus dueling each other with wooden swords while being cheered on by a pint-sized Dean Thomas. _Where did he come from,_ Ginny wondered, then remembered Seamus saying that Dean had also escaped being kidnapped.

"Take that! And that! And that!" Seamus yelled as he clobbered Colin over the head with his sword, clearly the better dueler.

"They're not causing any harm," Ginny remarked, thinking that they reminded her of Fred and George when they were younger.

"But if they make too much noise, we could be spotted!" Hermione stamped the air with her tiny feet. "The Inquisitional Squad lurks among the island and I'm positive one of the other boys has said something about all the Lost Boys not being accounted for. I bet it was Ronald. Ronald never keeps quiet about anything."

Ginny fought back a grin. "Just where am I, Hermione?"

"You are dreaming, Ginny Weasley."

Ginny blinked owlishly, knowing at that moment she probably resembled Ron a great deal. "Excuse me?"

Hermione sighed and flicked a very tiny wand. An image of Ginny in the Room of Requirement, asleep in Harry's arms, emerged. "You are Ginevra Molly Weasley, fifth-year student at Hogwarts, resident of the Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, England. Correct?"

"Right," Ginny said, mesmerized by the sight of her sleeping self nestled against Harry.

"You have driven yourself to exhaustion studying for your OWLs, correct?"

"Right. Who doesn't do that?" Ginny was mesmerized by the sleeping Harry gently wrapping a strand of hair around his finger as he snuggled closer to her. _He's so peaceful. I wonder what he's dreaming of?_

"Ginny, you're drooling."

She touched her lips, felt the wetness running down her chin and blushed. Before she could respond, Harry suddenly went rigid. In his sleep, he screamed and clutched his forehead. "No!" he yelled. "Stop it! STOP IT!! GINNY!!! _GINNY!!!_ "

"Harry!" Ginny screamed and leaped toward the image. The chair had expanded once more and the sleeping Ginny in the Room of Requirement seemed to be oblivious to whatever nightmare her boyfriend was caught in. "Wake up, Harry! _HARRY!!_ " She reached toward the image of her writhing boyfriend only to find herself grabbing at thin air. Tears burning in her eyes, she whirled on Hermione and pointed her wand at her. "Get me out of this dream," she said in a cold voice.

Hermione gave her a disbelieving look. "I can't. This is your dream. You've got to be the one to wake up."

Ginny threw up her hands. "How can I wake myself up?"

"By rescuing Harry Potter. Honestly, are you not aware of where you are?"

Ginny jabbed her wand in Hermione's face. "I know this much - my boyfriend is in obvious pain, most likely from Voldemort invading his dreams again. I am going to find him if it's the last thing I do."

"You are a feisty one, aren't you? Here." Hermione tapped her wand on the sheaf of parchment, immediately enlarging it. As it enlarged, Hermione sent the parchment hurling toward Ginny.

She caught it and studied the title. " _A Witch's Guide to Peter Pan_? What is this?"

Hermione placed her hands on her hips. "You mean you've never heard of J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan? Barrie was a Muggle author who met a family of wizards in the early 1900s. He became guardian of the family's sons and learned about the Wizarding world. It became the basis of the Muggle play, _Peter Pan_. You, Ginny Weasley, are in your own version of _Peter Pan_."

"Why am I dreaming of _Peter Pan_?" Ginny wondered.

"Why is the real Colin Creevey giving a performance of the _Pirates of Penzance_ in the Gryffindor common room?"

"Point." Ginny leafed through the booklet. "So, in order to save Harry, I'm going to have to find where this dream world's Harry Potter is, save him, complete the dream and then comfort my boyfriend." Her eyes widened and she stared at Hermione. "Could it be possible that Harry's dreaming the same thing I am?"

"I don't know. It's your dream."

Ginny frowned. "How do you know this is a dream anyhow?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "When have I not known everything?"

Ginny grinned. "True."


	3. A Witch's Guide to Peter Pan

“Well, let’s see…,” Ginny muttered beneath her breath as she flipped through the parchment. She was walking down a path following the Lost Boys, or what remained of them. “I take it that I’m suppose to be Wendy Darling. That explains why Colin was confused. He kept calling me Wendy. Harry’s suppose to be Peter Pan. He got to keep his name as well.”

“He had a choice to change it to Harry Ham, but he particularly didn’t care for it,” Hermione said from her perch on Ginny’s shoulder.

Ginny thought of a huge honey-baked ham with a lighting-bolt scar, round-rimmed glasses and an unruly shock of black hair. She barely choked back a laugh. “Yeah, I think that name goes on the reject list as well. Perhaps a ham would be better suited to that lump he calls a cousin.”

“Harry has a lump for a cousin?”

Ginny blinked for a moment, then sighed. “Right, forgot. Not the real Hermione. Okay. So, in the original story, Peter Pan comes looking for his shadow and winds up taking Wendy and her two little brothers to Neverland, where they won’t grow up. So, what’s the purpose of this Neverland?”

“You just read the answer for yourself,” Hermione said crispily. “You came here because you don’t wish to grow up.”

“What?” Ginny came to a sudden stop, the momentum sending Hermione flying off her shoulder. The fairy skidded to a stop a few feet in front of Ginny and straightened herself with a huff. “Of course I want to become of age! I’ll be able to legally do magic and Apparate. I know Harry’s going to have to defeat Voldemort soon, and I want to be by his side when he does so. I can’t do that unless I get rid of this bloody Trace on me.”

“Yes, but you do not want to go through the process of becoming an adult,” Hermione said. She flittered close to Ginny’s eyes. “You don’t want to take your OWLs, do you?”

From several feet away, Seamus, Colin and Dean suddenly broke out into fearful screams. Ginny immediately sprinted ahead of the boys, pointing her wand down the path. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“She said it! She said the O-word!” Colin wailed.

Ginny lowered her wand slightly, perplexed. “What? OWL?”

All three boys broke out into loud screams once more. Ginny slammed her hands over her ears to cut the racket, then waved her wand at them. “ _Silencio!_ ”

The boys remained screaming at the top of their lungs, but at least they were now quiet. It was quite a sight. Seamus was running around in circles while Dean curled up beneath a tree, huge tears rolling down his dark cheeks. Colin was flat on his back, kicking and screaming up a storm. Dust and twigs flew up around the little boy, causing Ginny to cough.

“Neverland is a haven for young wizards who don’t wish to take their OWLs or NEWTs.” Hermione frowned at the boys, her nose turning up daintily. “Which, quite frankly, is appalling. Have they no idea of the value of a good education?”

“Once you pass your OWLs, you’re almost considered an adult,” Ginny mused. “You become of legal age at 17, then once you pass your NEWTs, you’re truly an adult.”

“You have a terrible war going on in your world, haven’t you?” Hermione asked kindly.

Ginny thought of Harry screaming and clutching at his scar and nodded. “Yes, the war against Voldemort.”

“Once you grow up, you have to fight in the war.”

Ginny thought of the Cedric Diggory’s death and the Department of Mysteries. Any remains of her childhood after her experiences in the Chamber of Secrets had gone up in smoke when Voldemort was resurrected. But, Hermione had a point. They were still very insulated from the war at Hogwarts. All of the normal school activities - Quidditch, classes, snogging in broom closets - still took place. Each step they took toward adulthood brought them closer to the realty of the war and the fact that they could possibly lose everything.

Her thoughts drifted to Harry. He was here in Neverland. If they stayed here, he would never have to fight Voldemort. He would never risk dying. He probably didn’t know - only Ginny knew of what was happening in the real world. Even fairy Hermione’s knowledge paled in comparison. It sounded so lovely. She and Harry could stay here and be happy. She wanted Harry to be happy and at peace so badly that her heart ached. But first, she had to rescue him from Captain Snape Hook.

––-

“Let’s see… Skipped that part, skipped that part, completely obliviated that part… Okay! Here we go!” Ginny jabbed her finger at the parchment. “In the book, Peter Pan is being held captive by Captain Hook on _The Jolly Roger_. So, I assume Captain Snape Hook is holding Harry hostage in a ship somewhere as well, right?”

Hermione didn’t say anything for a moment. She twisted a lock of bushy hair around her finger. “Well, not exactly,” she said after a moment.

“What do you mean not exactly?” Ginny frowned at Hermione, then nudged aside a large palm frond. Several yards away, a huge black cauldron towered into the sky. Wide curls of black smoke twisted into the air, eventually disappearing in the sky. Something green and rather foul-smelling burbled over the side and dripped down the edges. Ginny reared back and stared at Hermione. “That’s not a ship.”

“No,” Hermione replied. “That is _The Happy Hippogriff_.”

“The what?” Ginny wasn’t quite sure whether to gawk or laugh.

“ _The Happy Hippogriff._ Think of it like Hellmaster Phibrizzo’s temple.”

Ginny gave her an odd look. “Hellmaster who?”

“Oh, right. Wrong storyline. I do wish the higher-ups would keep these stories straight.” Hermione shuffled through her notes. “After all, these storylines of red-haired heroines going to rescue their boyfriends from certain death do get rather confusing once it’s been done multiple times. Okay, think of the cauldron as your Ministry of Magic. It’s a big maze inside.”

“But why is it called _The Happy Hippogriff?_ ”

Hermione tutted a little. “It seems a few years ago that Captain Sirius Black christened it _The Happy Hippogriff_ by painting it on in Everlasting Spray Paint. No spell can reverse it. He also put huge dog prints on it in regular paint and Snape Hook just managed to get those off. He’s not terribly happy with Sirius Black or Harry Potter. They are his arch-nemesis.”

Ginny grinned. The real Sirius Black would appreciate it, she thought as she turned back toward the Lost Boys. She opened her mouth to call to them when something silver flashed by, missing her cheek by inches. She pivoted, a stunning spell cast before she had time to register what had happened. The jet of red light shot toward _The Happy Hippogriff_ , dissipating before it reached its target. Ginny’s eyes narrowed when she recognized the white-blond hair of Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin armed with… She blinked. _What in Merlin’s murple purples is Draco Malfoy doing with a bow and arrow?_

“You’re dreaming. You’re dreaming. You’re dreaming,” Hermione repeated over and over in a voice that managed to be both matter-of-fact and sing-song at the same time. Ginny swatted the fairy away, but Hermione simply fluttered over to the Lost Boys.

Broomsticks emerged from the inside of the cauldron. Boys dressed in green and silver robes shot toward them, spells being cast at an alarming rate. Ginny leaped toward Colin, Dean and Seamus, casting a shield spell just before a yellow jet of light hit Colin. She lifted the silencing charm on them and thankfully they didn’t scream. Instead, they were armed with little bows and arrows of their own. Colin shot an arrow and it took the form of a stunner, racing through the air and barely missing one of the green and silver-clad boys.

“Snape’s pirates!” Hermione yelled. “You’ve got to elude them! They're using non-wand weapons that can cast magic!”

“Me and what army?” Ginny yelled back as she shot off stunner after stunner. But a teenage girl and three little boys were no match for two dozen pirates. Ginny was one of the best fighters in Dumbledore’s Army, but the lucky combination of a Bludgeoning hex and a stunner took her out. Ginny screamed in pain as both spells hit their mark and she collapsed to the ground. “Run!” she managed to yell to the boys before her world went dark.

––-

There were three things that Ginny Weasley had no wish to wake up to.

  1. A repeat of the prank that Fred and George pulled when she was eight, and she had woken up to find that all of her dolls had been transfigured into headless corpses. Her shrieks had brought Mrs. Weasley up in a flash. But before she could begin to do anything to the twins, Ginny let loose a magnificent display of accidental magic that led to her first Bat-Bogey Hex.
  2. Tom Riddle. Enough said.
  3. Severus Snape. No further explanation there either.



Unfortunately, Ginny opened her eyes to find herself looking into the dark eyes belonging to her former Potions, now Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. An emerald eyepatch with a silver doe covered one eye and he wore a hat that looked just as greasy and unkempt as his hair. He wore a combination of his teaching robes and what she figured was a Muggle pirate’s outfit. His teeth bared and the whiff of particularly foul-smelling breath did away with the rest of her lethargy.

“So,” Snape sneered, “You’re the heroine of this little story, huh? Apparently, you appear to be the sort that doesn’t follow instructions. But now I have both you and Harry Potter.”

Ginny struggled to sit up, then noticed she was under a Body-Bind Curse. “Let Harry go,” she demanded.

“Please, Weasley. That is most cliché of clichés that’s been uttered this evening.”

Ginny let out a short scream and concentrated on the curse. A moment later, she fell from the table where she’d been laying. Rubbing her wrists, she got to her feet. Malfoy and the other pirates stood behind Snape. Across the room, there was a large wooden cage with several dozen small boys in it, several of them red-haired and freckled. But, there was no shock of unruly black hair. No glimmer of magnificent green eyes.

She turned back to Snape. “Where’s Harry?”

“In a safe place. Potter is of no use to me, but to the king of pirates.”

“Tom Riddle,” Ginny breathed. A second later, she found the blade of an extremely sharp sword pressed against her pulse. She swallowed nervously, then forced herself to look dead into Snape’s eyes.

“You do not utter his name,” Snape spat at her. “He is Lord Captain Voldemort, and he will be treated with the highest respect.”

Ginny’s response was short, succinct, and would had made her mother yell due to the language.

“You try my patience, you insufferable girl.” Snape pressed the blade harder against Ginny’s neck, and she felt the warm trickle of blood rolling down toward her collarbone just as one of the side doors opened. Crabbe and Goyle forced the remaining Lost Boys into the room, all three of them weeping.

Colin’s eyes went wide when he spotted Ginny. “Ginny Wendy!” he wailed and sprinted toward her.

“Colin, no!” Ginny screamed as Snape swung the sword away from her and toward Colin. She leaped at his back, nails biting into skin as she scratched his cheek. With a roar, he flung her off him. She flew across the room, landing on her back next to the cage with the rest of the Lost Boys. She heard her name being screamed from the cage and the room was filled with the screams of little boys. She pressed a hand to her aching head and wondered how on Earth her mother had managed six boys.

“Ginny!” Her head whipped up to see Ron holding a small silver stick. “Ginny, take this! I can’t use it! It was meant for you!”

Ginny accepted the stick through the cage bars and it transformed into a sword. Her eyes widened as she recognized the Sword of Gryffindor now in her grasp. The sword itself towered over the tiny boys. He wouldn’t had been able to hold it. She rolled to her feet and with a smash of the sword, she had the locks holding the cage obliviated. The sides fell apart and with a loud cheer, the Lost Boys swarmed toward the pirates.

Her hair flying around her face, Ginny faced Snape as the Pirates started to take on the Lost Boys. She pointed her sword at Snape. “It’s you or me, Snape. This time, I won’t lose!”

Then she charged.


	4. The Boy of Her Dreams?

The sounds of battle erupted around Ginny. Jets of magic flew by her, reminding her sharply of the Department of Mysteries in her fourth year. Snape was armed with a transfigured sword that had an emerald snake twisted around the hilt, winding its way onto the bottom third of the blade. It had onyx eyes that caught the candlelight and distracted her slightly as she charged at the pirate.

Snape immediately counted the move and Ginny nearly toppled over. _Note to self, swords are bloody heavy. How did Harry manage this when he was 12?_ She gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands and swung it around wildly, nearly decapitating little Ron.

“Oi! Watch where you swing that thing!” Ron yelled as he dueled with Snape’s right-hand pirate, Draco “Smee” Malfoy.

“It’s not like I bloody well know how to use this thing!” Ginny shot back and ducked, missing death by an inch as Snape’s sword cut through the air where her neck had been.

“Are you ready to give in already, Miss Weasley?” Snape swung his sword down and Ginny parried, the force of the two blades reverberating through her body.

“Not on your life, you greasy-haired git!” Ginny yelled.

Snape growled and for the first time, Ginny saw that his free hand didn’t exist. A silver and emerald hook mirroring her sword replaced the limb. He wrapped that hook around her long tresses of hair and yanked back so hard that Ginny saw stars. She tried yanking it away, but it only made the pulling worse. Snape reached for her and Ginny ran at him, shoving the two of them into the wall.

The cauldron started to rumble at the same time a horrific crash was heard. Snape let out a howl and Ginny managed to pull her way free. She saw Ron and Draco by what had once been a massive rack of carefully prepared potions.

“Look at what you did!” Ron yelled to Draco.

“It was you fault, you stupid Lost Boy!” Draco yelled back in a superior manner. “I am the first mate of this cauldron and I would never cause Captain Snape’s potions to fall!”

“You were the one who fell back into them!”

“You’re the one who caused it!”

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

“Not!”

“So!” Draco grabbed one of the spare broomsticks and shot away from Ron.

“Don’t you fly away from me!” Ron roared.

“ENOUGH!” Snape roared and the distraction was just what Ginny needed. She darted forward through the crowed of pirates and Lost Boys and was feet away from tackling Snape when she heard the distinct hiss of liquid burning through wood.

Then the world collapsed beneath her.

––-

“Hey! Hey! Hey!”

“Go away,” Ginny muttered and swatted her hand at the small pinprick of light in front of her.

It didn’t leave. In fact, it was even more persistent than before. “Hey! Hey! Hey!”

“Ah, bugger it all!” Ginny sat up and glared at the light. “Hermione!”

“Persistent Fairy Technic 101,” Hermione said in a crisp tone, coming to rest on Ginny’s nose. “A Japanese fairy known as Navi was the one to introduce it last year during a tour of Beaubaxtons when…”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Ginny felt the bump on the back of her head and stared upward. She saw a dim ring of light barely visible above her. “Did I crash through the floor?”

“Yes, because of what Ronald and that Draco boy did.” Hermione sniffed a little. “I told Harry before they were captured that Ronald would do something reckless like this, but did he listen to me? No, of course not, he was too busy catching Snitches and eating treacle tart.”

Ginny shook off her daze and tuned Hermione out. She saw something through an open archway and reached for her wand. She exhaled in relief when her hands closed around the slender piece of wood, still tucked in her waistband. The sword of Gryffindor lay a few feet away and Ginny picked it up. It revered back to a sliver of silver wood and she tucked it where her wand had been.

She cast a _Lumos_ and held her wand toward the archway. A tattered veil obscured the contents behind the arch. Again, it reminded her of the Department of Mysteries. Gritting her teeth, Ginny approached the archway and pushed aside the veil. She let out a gasp when she saw what lay on the other side and dashed through.

It was Harry. Relief swamped through her as she approached the dais behind the arch. His eyes were closed and he was dressed head to foot in a vivid green costume. But, it was definitely him. His arms and legs were tied down and his head jerked back and forth as he thrashed against some unknown nightmare.

“Ginny!” he cried. “He’s got Ginny! I need my Ginny!”

A rush of emotion filled Ginny and she quickly knelt by his side. “I’m here, Harry,” she said softly. “I’ve always been here.” She placed a hand on one of the ropes binding him and it suddenly dissolved. Ginny quickly repeated motion to the other ropes and they fell away. She ran a hand through the fringe on his forehead, tracing the scar that lay beneath. Then, in a moment of perfect beauty, his eyes opened and locked on hers.

“Harry,” she breathed.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, but looked like he’d been given the most unexpected Christmas gift. “Ginny,” he whispered. “You’re Ginny. You’re the girl I’ve been dreaming of.”

Ginny’s romantic heart went into double time and she wanted to snog Harry senseless. “Oh, Harry.”

“This is brilliant!” Harry’s eyes sparkled with laughter and he sprang into a sitting position with a surprising amount of energy. He clasped Ginny’s hands in his own. “I’ve been dreaming of you for days! Years even! Now we’ll have all the fresh treacle tart we want!”

Ginny faltered a bit. “Pardon?”

Harry’s eyes took on a glassy look. “You can darn our socks! We really need someone to darn our socks, Neville is rubbish at it. And bake lots of treacle tart! Ron’s a passable cook, but when Hermione comes flitting about we can’t get him to do anything right. And you can even sew pockets into our clothes!” Harry patted at his waist and gave her a sheepish grin. “I’ve not got any pockets and it’s hard to carry around both a Snitch and a treacle tart.”

“Harry? What does dreaming of me have to do with treacle tarts?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Everything! I was told that the Ginny Wendy knew how to make the best treacle tarts in the land. Hermione the fairy told me so, and Hermione knows everything! When she said you could make treacle tart, I wanted to taste a treacle tart made by you very badly. Will you make a tart for me, Ginny Wendy?”

“But, Harry, I’ve never made a treacle tart,” Ginny replied, feeling like she’d been hit with a Stunner. Treacle tart? Her dream Harry longed for her so she could make a bloody tart? She felt like slapping him silly. Maybe that would end this farce of a dream.

“There you are, Harry!” Hermione made her presence known and she flew in front of the green-clad boy. “You’ve forgotten where you are! You’ve been captured by Captain Snape!”

“Snape!” Harry leaped to his feet and waved his hand. The abandoned sword flew from Ginny’s waist into his grip, transforming as it did so. “I’ll defeat Snape and Ginny can bake tarts! Life is brilliant! We’ll never grow up!”

“Come on, Harry, this is silly! And I can’t bake tarts!” Ginny cried, then discovered that she was speaking to thin air. Harry was soaring through the air toward the opening and Ginny sighed with exasperation. “Hey, wait! Bloody hell, you could have at least taught me how to fly! Haven’t you read the bloody book?” Ginny gritted her teeth and noticed that Hermione had also abandoned her. “Well, great. At least I have my wand. _Accio broom!_ ”

Ginny Weasley was quite the exceptional witch, being the seventh of seven and the first Weasley female in generations. Therefore, she shouldn’t had been surprised that her spell didn’t summon just one broom - it summoned all of them. Ginny gasped dozens of brooms shot through the opening above and barely managed to get her shield around her in time. The brooms crashed around her, several shattering in the process. Ginny waited for the last one to fall, then grabbed it. She swung on and shot toward the opening.

The battle had moved and Harry was nowhere to be seen. Ginny refused to let that deter her and she navigated the broom through the narrow, twisting corridors. She spotted the exit and shot through just as a loud cheer echoed around her.

Straight ahead there was a circle of pirates and Lost Boys, each cheering on a fantastic duel between Captain Snape and Harry. The battle was more evenly matched this time, as Harry had the strength to wield the sword confidently. He moved around Snape, taunting him with a cockiness that Ginny had never seen in him. She wondered for a brief moment if this was what Harry would had been like had his parents survived to raise him and wasn’t quite sure at all if she cared for it.

“You can’t defeat me this time, Potter,” Snape spat at him. “I’ve destroyed Captain Black and I’ll have your glasses as my trophy for killing you!”

“You can’t even see your arse when you wipe yourself in the loo!” Harry taunted. He jabbed and Snape parried. “You’ll never take me alive!”

“I’ve captured you once!” Snape roared and Harry nimbly sidestepped a direct attack.

Ginny pulled her wand and aimed it at Snape.

“No, no, no!” Hermione was suddenly at her side, tugging at a lock of Ginny’s hair. “You can’t interfere! The book says…”

“Forget the buggering book! _Stupefy!_ ”

The stunner seemed to move in slow motion. It caught Snape directly in the back and propelled him off the side of the cauldron. His screams echoed in the sky as he fell toward the water. A moment later, a great squid rose with Snape caught in its tentacles. With one smooth movement, it popped Snape into its mouth and swallowed before moving away, the faint sound of a ticking clock going along with it.

Ginny lowered her wand and stared a bit stupidly at the squid. “Wasn’t it suppose to be a crocodile?” she asked a bit lamely.

She didn’t get a response. The Lost Boys were cheering at the victory, slapping high-fives and tossing the pirates off the ship. She noticed that Ron in particular took glee in setting Draco Malfoy’s pants on fire, causing the blond to run screaming off the edge of the cauldron.

Harry pushed his way to her. “That was wicked!” he cried. He grabbed her in a fierce hug and Ginny found herself laughing along with him. “Now you can go back and make tarts!”

“I’d love to!’ Ginny pulled away from him, then gently cupped his chin in her hand. “But, I can’t. I’ve got to wake up now.”

He grabbed her arms. “You can’t wake up! You wanted to come here in the first place! You didn’t want to take your OWLs! I don’t either! None of us will take them, ever! We won’t grow up!”

“Harry, everyone has to grow up,” she said softly.

A dark look crossed his face and for a moment he looked more like an upset Ron than an upset Harry. “I won’t!” he cried. “I thought you cared for me!”

“I do!” Ginny cried, gripping his arms back. “I care for you more than anything!”

“Then why are you forcing me to do this?” Harry shook her slightly. “If I grow up I’ll… I’ll have to fight Voldemort! He’s coming for me, you know.”

An icy ball of fear settled in the pit of Ginny’s stomach. Voldemort was coming for Harry and that day was coming at a very fast rate. It felt like this entire year they were standing on the brink, waiting for the single event to come that would change all of their lives forever. She closed her eyes and felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t want to face that future. She wanted to stay here forever and see Harry be the little boy he never got a chance to be.

“Ginny, please,” Harry begged.

A great and terrible burden settled on Ginny’s shoulders and she thought about what Harry would want. Not this dream clutching onto her for dear life, but the real one outside her fantasies. Suddenly, a horrible realization slammed into her and she wanted to hunch in a ball and sob. Dreams weren’t meant to last. Not the one she was dreaming now. Not the one she was living while awake. Great Merlin, Harry was going to leave. She knew that somewhere in the depths of her soul. He was going to leave and do what he needed to do in order to defeat Voldemort - and she wouldn’t be going with him.

“Ginny?”

She opened her eyes and saw Hermione fluttering between herself and the dream Harry. “You know what you have to do,” she said wisely.

Ginny nodded and sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. If she didn’t grow up and pass her OWLs, then she would be of no use to Harry. The only way they would achieve peace and happiness was to defeat Voldemort. To defeat Voldemort, they had to grow up. She had to be as strong as she could be for Harry. Because she knew the day he left, he would need someone to come back to. He needed her. She intended to be strong enough to let him go, strong enough to fight at his side and strong enough to welcome him home with open arms.

“Harry, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I have to go back.”

“And just how?” the dream Harry shot at her.

“By doing this.” With that, Ginny performed a very adult action. She kissed him.


	5. Wonderland

Ginny kissed Harry. She wrapped her arms around him, her fingers diving into his thick, unruly hair. He stood still as a statue for a moment, and she wondered if he would push her away. Then he was returning the kiss with a fiery passion that couldn’t be felt in little boys who thought that kissing was icky and that girls had cooties. He pulled her closer to him.

She felt herself starting to surface from the dream, layer by layer. Textures and sensations drifted through her addled senses. She could feel the rough cotton of Harry’s trousers and school robes beneath her thighs, the feel of his hands as they tugged her blouse from the waistband from her skirt, then brushed against the bare skin on her back. She found herself moving against him as certain parts of him decided to wake up. She made a small, throaty, needy sound as their snogging grew more passionate and they kissed as if the world was ending.

“There you two are! I was wondering where you’d… GINNY!”

Ginny tore her mouth from Harry’s. Her boyfriend looked sleepy, sexy and his eyes were filled with panic. “Please tell me that’s not Hermione,” he whispered hoarsely.

“HARRY JAMES POTTER!” Hermione screeched and Ginny peered over her shoulder. Hermione looked furious, her face nearly Weasley red. Ron stood beside her, gaping at the scene.

Hermione stomped over to them and pointed her wand in Harry’s face. Ginny felt the evidence of his desire for her fade completely. “Her.. Her… Hermione, I can explain! We just fell asleep, Ginny was really exhausted, and…”

“She starts her OWLs in three days. _Three days!_ Do you realize that the last three days of revision could make the difference between an O and a D?” Hermione looked perilously close to hyperventilating. “Ginny should be studying her books, not your body!”

“I bet I’d make an O that subject,” Ginny said cheekily. Hermione shot her a scathing glare.

“Well. Um… Hermione? Why don’t we give them a moment? And Potter, get your hand off my sister’s arse!” Ron looked caught between embarrassed, mortified and a little angry at how far his best friend and little sister were going.

Harry immediately held both hands in the air.

“Honestly,” Ginny said with a snort and swung off the chair. She readjusted her robes and sighed. “Can’t a girl get five minutes alone with her boyfriend?”

“You’ve been gone for four hours. It’s nearly curfew. We can’t have anymore points docked from Gryffindor. Now, come on.” Hermione grabbed Ginny’s hand. “I’ve found a set of Potions notes from fourth year I forgot I had! And some of those potions were definitely on the OWLs and I know that…”

“Easy, Hermione,” Ron said and casually slung his arm over her shoulders. The move caused Hermione’s mouth to immediately clamp shut and she went pink. “You could always take them for her,” he teased.

Hermione frowned at him. “You already tried doing that last year when you asked if I could Polyjuice into you.”

“Well, since you enjoy taking exams so much…”

“Honestly, Ron!”

Ron tossed a wink over his shoulder as he directed Hermione back toward the door to the Room of Requirement. “We’ll meet you back in the common room, yeah? And Potter, keep those hands above the waist, back only!”

Harry retorted by making a very rude hand gesture at Ron’s back that made Ginny laugh. She looped her arm around his waist and was pleased when he returned the gesture. They started out of the Room of Requirement. As they walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Ginny told Harry about the dream she had, leaving out the parts where she suspected that he was leaving. She didn’t think he would want to hear that and she didn’t want to ruin the evening.

Harry mulled it over as they climbed the stairs. “Well,” he said after a moment, “I think I’d want to grow up.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He lingered at one of the windows that gave a magnificent view of the Hogwarts grounds. He didn’t say anything for a moment and Ginny could tell her was struggling to say something. She wrapped both arms around his waist now. He rested his chin on the top of her head.

“When I was a kid,” Harry said in a voice so soft that Ginny strained to hear him, “I felt so powerless. I was at the mercy of my aunt and uncle and well… It wasn’t easy. I hated being helpless. I still feel helpless, but I’m older. I’m almost 17 and then I can get my Apparition license and do magic without the Ministry hounding me. I think I would hate being stuck as a kid forever.”

Ginny’s heart ached. She wanted so badly to give Harry the childhood that he never had. She squeezed him tightly.

“Besides, if I hadn’t grown up, I wouldn’t had come to school here. We wouldn’t had met.” He blushed furiously at that last statement, but found that the words kept tumbling out on their own accord. “I’m glad we met. I’m so happy to be with you, Ginny.”

Pure joy filled Ginny’s heart and she kissed him, pouring all of that joy into the kiss. He returned it and she found herself pinned against the stone windowsill briefly as they snogged. They pulled away, smiled at each other and Ginny knew at that very moment that any of the pain and heartbreak they would have to endure to get through the war would be absolutely worth it. They wouldn’t be caught in a Neverland of refusing to face the future. They would head into it and go through all the hardships to create a wonderland. Life wasn’t meant to be easy. The rewards would be worth everything.

Ginny took Harry’s hand and tugged at it gently. “Come on then,” she said with a bright smile. “Let’s go make our wonderland.”

––-

_“I want to change the world. I won't hesitate again. If I can shape a future with you, then I can fly anywhere. Change my mind. I can spread my wings and fly towards the unknown future without losing my passion. It's wonderland!”_

\- Lyrics from “Change the World,” by V6 (first opening theme song for Inuyasha)


End file.
